set aside for that purpose alone, and wherever there is a Catholic Church there is also a Catholic burial ground. Prior to 1845 the Catholics of Columbus, constituting only one congregation, that of Holy Cross, had no cemetery of their own. The priest accompanied the remains to the graveyard and blessed the grave. In January, 1845, Samuel Brush conveyed to Peter Ury and wife a tract of land containing three acres and a quarter, situated in the northeast part of the city and now known as the "Old Catholic Burial Ground." The consideration was six hundred dollars. This property Mr. Ury held in trust for the Catholics until September 11, 1848, when he deeded it to John B. Purcell, Bishop of Cincinnati, for the same consideration of $600. The burialground was at that time just within the city limits; in time, however, the cemetery was nearly filled and the City Council, moreover, prohibited by ordinance further burials within the corporation. This measure, long anticipated, urged the Catholics to the purchase of other grounds for cemetery purposes.

Calvary Cemetery. Through the agency of John F. Zimmer, a tract containing twentyfive acres, lying some distance beyond the city limits, on the Harrisburg Pike, was purchased in 1865, and additions thereto in 1866 and 1869. The parties conveying the property to the Bishop were Jacob Gall, Philo N. White and John F. Zimmer. The ground is slightly undulating and has been vastly improved by shrubbery and the erection of handsome monuments. The cemetery was opened for burials in 1867 and up to the time of its solemn consecration November 2, 1874, over fourteen hundred interments had been made. The great privilege of placing their dead in consecrated ground had by necessity been denied the Catholics of Columbus. But now the time had come when they were possessed of ground free of incumbrances and prepared to receive consecration. A procession of all the Catholic societies moved from St. Joseph's Cathedral to the cemetery, where an immense crowd of people had gathered to witness the imposing ceremonies so filled with consolation to those whose beloved ones' remains were there reposing. Previous to the consecration Bishop Rosecrans, from the foot of the large cross erected in the centre of the ground, addressed the people a few words in which he dwelt upon the very solemn character of the ceremony about to be witnessed and exhorted all to pray for the dead without ceasing. In the sacred function the Bishop was assisted by Rev. N. A. Gallagher, Rev. G. H. Ahrens, Rev. H. Anderson, Very Rev. J. B. Hemsteger, Rev. J. Casella, Rev. J. Bauman, Rev. M. M. Meara, Rev. J. B. Eis, Rev. H. B. Dues, and a number of seminarians and altar boys. The ceremony occupied some time and at its conclusion the pontifical blessing was given.

At the time of the abandonment of the old burial ground the remains of the dead were removed by friends to the new cemetery and efforts were made to dispose of the property. The title of the land has been contested by Peter Ury's heirs who claim it by reason of its ceasing to be used for burial purposes. The inferior courts have decided that the Bishop holds a clear title and can dispose of the property. The case has been appealed to the Supreme Court, and it may be some time before the final decision is reached.

Our historical sketch ends here. As this is the first compilation of the history of the Catholic Church in this city except the very creditable attempt in Studer's History of Columbus, the writer feels that some inaccuracies may, in the light of further investigation, be found in the course of the sketch. If such there be, he will feel grateful to have them indicated so that proper correction can be made in the future. To Mr. Alfred E. Lee the author feels under obligations for permitting recourse to compilations of church news made by that gentleman in the preparation of this great work. To the clergy and superiors of religious communities thanks are returned for favors. Studer's Columbus and John Gilmary Shea's History of the Church in the United States have furnished some important items connected with the early history of the Catholic Church in this city.

CHAPTER XLIII.

BAPTIST.

BY OSMAN C. HOOPER.

There are nine Baptist churches in Columbus, five of white and four of colored membership. The former, in the order of their organization, are: The First Baptist Church, the Russell Street Baptist Church, the Hildreth Baptist Church, the Memorial Baptist Church, and the Tenth Avenue Baptist Church. The organizations of colored Baptists, considered similarly, are the Second Baptist Church, Shiloh Baptist Church, Union Grove Baptist Church and Bethany Baptist Church. All of these organizations trace their history back to February, 1823, when Elder George Jeffries came to Columbus from Marlboro, Delaware County, Ohio. He had received ordination as an evangelist in the church at Marlboro and, after his location in Columbus, began preaching in his own house. As a result of these services Sarah Garrison and Alpheus Tolle professed conversion and were baptized. Eight other persons who had previously been converted to that faith and had moved to Columbus were found, and it was resolved to organize a church.

At the request of Elder Jeffries and his fellow-Baptists, a council met in Columbus, May 15, 1824, to consider the propriety of instituting a church. The members of that council were: Elder Jacob Drake, Deacon Leonard Munroe and Brethren Daniel Nettleton and Charles Watters, of Liberty Church; Elder James Petters, Deacon John Swisher and Brother William D. Hendren, of Bethel Church; Deacon John McLeod, of Harlem Church, and Elder Pleasant Lemay, who was invited by the others to a seat. The council organized by electing Jacob Drake moderator and William D. Hendren clerk. The reasons for the establishment of a Baptist Church in Columbus were stated by Elder Jeffries to the satisfaction of the council which adopted a resolution that those who desired to become members of the church should present their letters. Those who responded and thus became the original members were as follows: George Jeffries, who presented a letter from the church at Marlboro; Elijah Tolle, from Maysville, Kentucky; William Whittimore and his wife, Leah Whittimore, from Daughty Fork, Coshocton County, Ohio; Patty Booker (colored), from Petersburg, Virginia; Mary Broderick, from Washington, Kentucky; Lydia Jones (colored), from Kentucky (name of church not on record); George Butcher (colored), from Petersburg, Virginia; Rosanna Bolin, from Virginia (church not stated); Sarah Garrison and Alpheus

Tolle, of Columbus, both of whom had been converted and baptized under the ministration of Elder Jeffries.

After due deliberation, the council resolved to "fellowship the above named brethren and sisters as a church of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ." Elder Jeffries, having been appointed as a representative of the new church, answered the necessary questions put by the moderator. Elder James Petters addressed the church and gave the right hand of fellowship, and Elder Jacob Drake followed with remarks emphasizing the importance of the engagement into which they had entered. The council session closed with a prayer and praise service opened by Deacon John McLeod. The timestained record of the proceedings is concluded with this sentence: "We can but hope the Lord was with us and that He will bless this little vine and cause it to become a thousand."

The organization was called "the First Baptist Church of Columbus;" a covenant and articles of faith were adopted and the little church of eleven members, three of whom were colored, began its career, which was for some years of doubtful outcome. Meetings were held at the houses of various members and Elder Jeffries from the first performed the duties of pastor, though he was not formally called to the pastorate until April, 1825. Communion service was observed quarterly, but how often there was preaching is not certain, since Elder Jeffries had engagements to preach elsewhere. On July 31, 1824, nine other per sons had been admitted to membership, and the first election of officers occurred. Daniel Huddleston was chosen Deacon, and Elijah Tolle Clerk and Treasurer. At this meeting also, application was made by the church for admission to the Colum bus Baptist Association. Elder Jeffries was chosen to write the church letter and at a subsequent meeting this letter was approved and Elder Jeffries, Alpheus Tolle and Elijah Tolle were selected to bear it to the Association.

The calling of Elder Jeffries to the pastorate did not have the result of contining his ministrations to the Columbus Church. He continued, as did other ministers in the association, to visit other churches and preach. This arrangement was in accordance with a resolution adopted by the Association and approved by the Columbus church, the necessity being due to the small number of ministers and the meager support that any of the churches was able to give to a pastor. The poverty of the Columbus church is shown by the minutes, in which it is recorded that after several ineffectual efforts to get from the members a definite statement as to the amount to be given the pastor for his services, four members responded at the meeting of December 7, 1825, with promises to give twentyfive cents each monthly. At this meeting, too, the first proposition to buy a lot and build a church edifice was made and the members were asked to consider the matter and decide on a course of action. Elder Jeffries, in the following August, reported to the church that he had found a suitable lot, but, although all seemed desirous of having a meetinghouse, there were not enough responses to justify definite action. In April, 1828, he made another report to the church to the effect that he had bought a lot which might become the property of the church, if the members would assist in paying for it. This proposition met with no better response than the preceding one, but the pastor was undaunted and erected a small building for the church, on the south side of Mound Street between High and Front streets. The minutes of the business meeting of January, 1830, show that eleven persons contributed $4.93 and 24 days' work "toward fixing the school house built by Mr. Jeffries for the purpose of having meeting in." The effect of being provided with a regular place of worship seems to have been quite as good as Elder Jeffries had expected. In the following April, he was requested to devote the whole of each Sabbath to the services of the church and he consented, withdrawing all appointments at other places.

On March 31, 1831, the church resolved to buy lot number 222 on Front Street just north of Mound, and Elder Jeffries, E. Davis, S. M. Martin and D. Green were appointed a committee to attend to the purchase and secure subscriptions to the purchase price. On April 30, this committee reported that they had bought the lot for $175, paying $60 in cash and two of them giving their notes for the remainder to run for three years, with interest. It was decided to build and a building committee was appointed. A year was consumed in the work and the new building was occupied for the first time on May 6, 1832 This structure still stands, though it was long since abandoned as a house of worship. It is a plain

onestory brick building and after the church had abandoned it in 1837, it was used by Doctor Curtis as a medical college and later as a residence. The capstone bearing the inscription, The Regular Baptist Meeting House, Erected A. D. 1831, was taken down when the building fell into other hands and is preserved as a relic in the present structure of the First Baptist Church. At the first meeting in the new church, Rev. O. Owens and Rev. Mr. Jewett, of Granville, and Rev. M. Petter, of Canaan, were present and preached, morning and evening. The occasion was further signalized by one admission to membership, whereupon the church "immediately repaired to the water where the candidate was baptized before a large and

orderly congregation." On June 2, 1832, the church considered for the first time as far as any record can be found, a proposition to establish a Sabbathschool, and decided to inaugurate that kind of effort on June 10. There is no record of the organization of the Sabbathschool, but it is probable that it was organized and that the Sabbathschool work of the First Baptist Church dates back to that time. The record of the meeting of December 1, 1832, shows that the time of holding Sundayschool was fixed at two o'clock in the afternoon.

The organization of the Baptists had no formal legal recognition until February 13, 1833, when the legislature passed a bill, granting to George Jeffries, James Turner, William A. Morse and their associates the right to incorporate the First Regular Baptist Church of Columbus, and constituting the men named the first Board of Trustees, to serve until their successors were regularly elected according to the constitution of the society. The act is signed by David T. Disney, Speaker of the House, and Samuel R. Miller, Speaker of the Senate.

Although the church was now in its own building, it did not thrive to that extent which had been expected. This was partly due to personal dissensions among the members. It was in the fall of 1833 that a number of Welsh Baptists organized a church under the leadership of Rev. John Harris, who had recently come from Newport, England. Mr. Harris preached at first entirely in Welsh, but afterwards, in recognition of the number of English-speaking Baptists who had come to them, sermons were occasionally delivered in the English tongue. Both the English church under Rev. Mr. Jeffries and the Welsh church under Rev. Mr. Harris, were weak. They felt the need of the strength which comes of union, and in the fall of 1834, prominent members of each organization met at the house of Rev. Mr. Harris and decided to ask the American Baptist Home Missionary Society to send to Columbus a preacher under whom the two churches could consolidate. The society responded favorably and, in June, 1835, Rev. T. R. Cressy arrived in Columbus to begin work on the new basis. There was still some indisposition on the part of some of Mr. Jeffries's church to consent to the proposed union, but those who had decided on that course went boldly ahead and were on the point of organizing separately when the members of Rev. Mr. Jeffries's church met and voted that to hold out further was useless. That meeting was held August 1, 1835. The record states that "on a representation being made to the church by Elder Jeffries of the agreement made with certain of the Baptist brethren in Columbus who expected this day to have been constituted into a church, the church voted that, if said brethren choose to attend this evening and join this church, according to that agreement, they will be received." Elders Drake and Carr, of Granville, were appointed to inform the others of the church's action. There is nothing to show what the precise terms of this agreement were, but the principal feature was the retirement of both Rev. Mr. Jeffries and Rev. Mr. Harris, and the union of the Baptists in the old house of worship under the pastorate of Rev. T. R. Cressy.

The proposed meeting of that evening (August 1, 1835) was held. The union under the agreement was approved by all and the following named persons who would have constituted the new church were received as members of the old : Rev. John Harris, Mrs. Mary Harris, E. Davis, Mrs. Elizabeth Rees, Mrs. Elizabeth Williams, Rufus Bixby, Mrs. Lucy Bixby, Tunis Peters, Mrs. Nancy Blake, William Richards, Mrs. Mary Richards, John B. Wheaton, Joseph West, Miss Dinah Davis, Mrs. Sally Weaver and Mrs. Jane Roberts. An invitation was unanimously extended to Elder Jeffries to retain his membership with the church, but it was declined and then a letter of dismission was unanimously voted to him. John B. Wheaton was clerk of this memorable meeting and was subsequently chosen clerk of the church, a position which he occupied without interruption for nine years. For his excellent care in recording the proceedings of the